I've been really knocked down with a cold since Thursday, but managed to make a big pot of pea soup yesterday.Being able to make the basics when you're sick is a nice...not sure I could stomach much else right now.

columbia wrote:I've been really knocked down with a cold since Thursday, but managed to make a big pot of pea soup yesterday.Being able to make the basics when you're sick is a nice...not sure I could stomach much else right now.

When you're single (and particularly when you're male) your best friend when you're sick is Chinese takeout.

had a sweet onion, mushrooms, and some left over steak laying around. cooked them up together (adding the left over steak at the last minute) with some A1, worcestershire sauce, and some spices. Put it in a panini with some white cheddar and some horseradish sauce. It was delicious. Rivals my buffalo chicken panini.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spread the margarine generously all over all sides of the loaf. Place it on a baking sheet in the oven.

Meanwhile, fry the bacon in a bit of oil until it is crisp and drain it thoroughly on paper towels.

Remove the loaf from the oven when it is evenly browned, after approximately 15 minutes. Slice the loaf lengthwise and hollow out the interior, leaving as much bread along the walls as desired. Slather a thick layer of peanut butter in the cavity of the loaf and follow with another thick layer of grape jelly. Use lots of both.

Arrange the bacon slices inside the cavity, or, if desired, layer the bacon slivers between the peanut butter and jelly. Close the loaf, slice and eat.

Gauch, I think you meant to say "Scottish" food there, not Spanish. Right? Because the best food in the Western world is from Spain, and it's rarely fried.

I’m also wondering what Spanish food is deep-fried. I must admit that I don’t eat much Spanish cuisine, but my mental menu of Spanish food includes things like seafood, rice, olives, cheese, sausages, stews… I’m not coming up with anything on my mental list that’s deep-fried. Are you referring to the food that might be served in tourist-trap vacation sites?

And in response to tif, as someone with deep Scottish roots, I’ll have you know that the Scots know how to boil stuff too. Plus, haggis is awesome.

I will concede that others might disagree on that point. But seriously, I like the stuff. It’s like a very rich, peppery, liver pâté. Pair it with some neeps and tatties (potatoes and rutabaga) and a big glass of Scotch, and that’s good eatin’.

Shyster wrote:And in response to tif, as someone with deep Scottish roots, I’ll have you know that the Scots know how to boil stuff too. Plus, haggis is awesome.

I will give you a big thumbs up on the haggis, love the stuff.

Just about anything made from the, er, 'alternative cuts' and organ meats is usually awesome. That's where the real skill and craft of cookery come into being; taking something humble and cheap and routinely discarded by the monied and left for the poor and turning it into something magical. Bœuf bourguignon, coq au vin, shepherd's pie, feijoida.... even things like stuffed pastas (creative way of using a small amount of leftovers to feed an entire family), all have their roots in austerity.

tifosi77 wrote: taking something humble and cheap and routinely discarded by the monied and left for the poor and turning it into something magical. Bœuf bourguignon, coq au vin, shepherd's pie, feijoida.... even things like stuffed pastas (creative way of using a small amount of leftovers to feed an entire family), all have their roots in austerity.

I have always been told that lobsters were once considered "poor mans food". Not sure if true.

It must have been the drawn butter that brought attention to the crustaceans from the wealthy.

BigMcK wrote:I have always been told that lobsters were once considered "poor mans food". Not sure if true.

It must have been the drawn butter that brought attention to the crustaceans from the wealthy.

That's totally correct. It was considered a trash fish, and some fishermen even used lobster for bait!

One of the big reasons it became rich people food was the advent of transporting seafood inland. People in Chicago and St. Louis were able to get par-fozen lobster staring in the mid-19th century. But the costs of transporting the things meant that the price charged to the end customer had to be exorbitant. So only rich people could afford to eat them once you got more than about a day's carriage ride inland. But at the coast, they were plentiful and cheap.

The folks at the Long Beach Lobster Fest must not have gotten the memo. Sorry, missed the key word, "were".

On a different note, a longtime favorite outdoor cook from RFD channel has resurfaced after a few years of not being on the air. Johnny Nix, former host of Campfire Cafe is back on T.V. Caught his new show last night. Still low budget show and crude production. It reminds me of the original Bobby Flay show where it was he and some guy in overalls outdoors cooking. Nix is a master of using Dutch Ovens for his meals. Y'all Eat Yet? http://www.yalleatyet.com/

tifosi77 wrote:That's totally correct. It was considered a trash fish, and some fishermen even used lobster for bait!

I remember reading somewhere that in the colonial days of the United States, there was actually a mass protest of indentured servants and similar persons in Boston over the consumption of lobster. I believe they were demanding to be fed lobster no more than three times per week or something along those lines.

Gauch, I think you meant to say "Scottish" food there, not Spanish. Right? Because the best food in the Western world is from Spain, and it's rarely fried.

I’m also wondering what Spanish food is deep-fried. I must admit that I don’t eat much Spanish cuisine, but my mental menu of Spanish food includes things like seafood, rice, olives, cheese, sausages, stews… I’m not coming up with anything on my mental list that’s deep-fried. Are you referring to the food that might be served in tourist-trap vacation sites?

I guess deep-fried was the wrong word or maybe it's that I just don't pay much attention to how meat and seafood is prepared. Never thought I'd say something like this, but I do miss German bread whenever I'm in Spain. And decent cheese. This may offend the Spanish, like a lot of things apparently do, but I'm not impressed at all with their cheese.

Tonight I made Jagerschnitzel. Now I will admit that I somewhat cheated on the gravy, but I made due with what I had. Anywho... it goes something like this.

Gravy:

Slice up some bacon and brown it in a pan. Remove and set aside, leaving the grease. Slice some onions up into smallish pieces and saute in the pan, seasoning w a bit of salt n pepper when they are about done (turning translucent) and set aside w bacon. Now add some mushrooms to the pan (I had sliced portobella, but go w whatever you want) and saute till they're cooked through, season w a bit of salt n pepper at the end. Set them aside w the bacon & onions.

Now at this point, if I had a good pork stock or even some pork base, I would have made a roux w flour & the grease and then made gravy from there. I did not, but I did have a jar of Heinz pork gravy in the cabinet, so I drained the grease, then dumped it into the pan. Then I stirred in the bacon, onions and mushrooms and kept it on medium, then lowered the heat after it was warmed up and let the flavors cook together for a bit.

Schnitzel:

Got some thin pork cutlets from the Iggle. Pounded these out slightly, but wasn't much to do since they were so thin. Set up a breading station of flour + essence, eggs + essence and some panko. After a run through the 3 stations, I put a thin layer of oil in the bottom of a pan and cooked the schnitzel on both sides until they were golden brown.

To serve, simply top the schnitzel with the gravy.

I also made some german potato salad, but the recipe was disappointing, so I won't rehash it here. Sauce ended up far too sweet for my liking.

I should also note that the onions had soaked up a lot of the grease from the bacon, so I had to put a pat of butter in while the mushrooms were cooking... that's just something you have to play by ear though because it kind of comes down to how much grease the bacon gives off.